Ambler Metals, a joint venture between Trilogy Metals and South32, will soon start the formal permitting process for the Arctic project, in Alaska.

An independent consulting company has completed a preparedness review of the draft permitting package for the project and, with some minor changes, the application will be submitted to the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in the first quarter of 2022.

“We are pleased that we are continuing to make progress on derisking the Arctic project and that we are now very close to commencing the formal permitting activities,” said Trilogy CEO Tony Giardini.

Given that the Arctic project is located on state and private land, the key federal permit will be the 404 Dredge or Fill Permit that is issued by the USACE, the lead agency during the federal permitting process.

In parallel with the federal permitting process, the state of Alaska will have to issue several permits and there will also be other permits issued by the Northwest Arctic Borough.

The overall permitting process is expected to take 24 to 30 months to be completed, Trilogy said.

The feasibility study for the Arctic project describes the potential technical and economic viability of establishing a conventional openpit copper/zinc/lead/silver/gold mine-and-mill complex for a 10 000 t/d operation.

Further, Trilogy and South32 have approved a 2022 budget of $28.5-million for Ambler.

A two-day technical review of the 2021 exploration programme, involving geologists from Trilogy, South32 and Ambler Metals, was held in Fairbanks, in December. Ambler presented technical results received to date and a preliminary outline of the 2022 exploration programme. A full technical review of the 2021 exploration results and ranking of drill targets and target areas for the 2022 field season will be held in early 2022 once all assay results have been received, compiled, and interpreted.

The 2022 budget for Ambler will cover up to 10 000 m of helicopter-supported diamond drilling that is expected to start in early June. The meterage will be divided between resource development drilling at Arctic and scout drilling of both volcanogenic massive sulphide targets in the Ambler Belt, with a focus on targets near Arctic, and carbonate-hosted copper targets around Bornite and the Cosmos Hills.

“Senior management at Trilogy is working very closely with representatives from South32 and Ambler in devising a 2022 programme that will greatly assist in moving the Arctic project forward and to continue to add value through the drill bit,” said Giardini.